Page 68 of Roughing
“I’ll call Carla, and I think we should head over to the Uni.”
“I’m in. Whatever you decide to do.” Briggs grinned.
“Don’t you think you should call the police and let them handle it?”
“I’ll do that, too, but the clock is ticking. If nothing else, we’ll sit near the exit to the building and wait for others to show up.”
“And do what?” Heidi didn’t hide her skepticism.
Briggs and I exchanged a glance. “Keep him from leaving?”
“Yeah, keep him from leaving.” Briggs backed me up.
“How are you going to do that?” Heidi frowned.
“I know what I’m doing.” I didn’t. Not only did I not have a plan, but I was winging it. We had to do everything we could to find Trelika. I didn’t trust the police to take us seriously and get there on time, which was why I was calling Carla.
I turned to Briggs. “Let’s go.”
We hurried across the street to the parking garage after giving Hal our contact info in case Trelika came back.
“Crap. Desmond? And all this time, Carla warned me against making quick judgments regarding suspects.”
“Hey, you’re learning. Besides, we don’t know if he’s the guy.” Briggs steered his truck onto the street and toward the Rainbow Uni.
I dialed Carla and woke her up. Putting her on speaker so Briggs could hear, I quickly filled her in. She listened before peppering me with questions, such as Desmond’s address, physical description, and any other pertinent details.
“We’re heading over there now,” I told Carla.
“Don’t approach him. If you’re right, and he’s the serial killer, he’s dangerous, and we don’t know what he’ll do if cornered. I’ll call Detective Wright and discuss our options. I doubt there’s enough probable cause to get a search warrant or arrest him.”
“But if we wait until we have cause, Trelika will be dead.”
“The only thing you have to go on is that Trelika’s client drove her away in a black Prius. How many black Priuses are there in Portland?”
“Tons,” I admitted and began to deflate. Our options were limited, especially without proof.
“But if you check around, you’ll find that Desmond was in the area during each of the abductions. He was in the Puck before Pria disappeared. He was at the Irish pub before Symone disappeared. He’s a common denominator.”
“Gathering that information will take some time.” Carla sounded distracted. I knew her well enough to know that her head was spinning with possible options, and she was already setting things in motion. “Let me call Kate and discuss this. You two hang tight. Don’t do anything to jeopardize the investigation.”
“We won’t, but can we at least keep an eye on his building to make sure he doesn’t leave?”
“Do not approach him.” Her firm tone allowed for no argument.
“We won’t.” I disconnected the call.
“What’s the plan, boss?” Briggs asked.
I was still angry at him regarding my rent but now wasn’t the time. I’d promised him if he ever interfered or tried to control my life, we were done. While he’d been paying for half my rent prior to that, he didn’t come clean when I did make my promise. The problem with issuing such ultimatums was that I had to either stick with them or lose credibility.
When I didn’t answer him, he gave me a quick glance, his blue eyes filled with concern. He knew something was wrong that went beyond a missing mom. “You’re upset with me.”
“Can we discuss this later? We have more pressing matters.”
“Okay.” He wasn’t happy, but he acquiesced.
Briggs cruised slowly down the street the Uni was on. I craned my neck for signs indicating anyone was inside. The place was dark except for the few lights that were always left on.
